Announcements

REGULAR MEETING
At Westland Water District Offices in Five Points
23050 W. Mt. Whitney Ave.
Five Points, CA 93624

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 20th, 2011
10:00 AM

PROPOSED AGENDA

1. ADDITIONS, DELETIONS OR CHANGES TO THE AGENDA (with necessary findings and approvals).

2. MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON July 21st, 2011 (review and approval).

3. PUBLIC COMMENTS – Comments at this time are limited to items not on this agenda and              within the Board’s scope of responsibility. Speakers may be limited to 3 minutes.

4. FINANCIAL REPORT – Sarge Green, Secretary-Manager, Mike Cuttone, Financial Officer, or directors will review the bank statements, receivables, payables and project/grant accounting reports and will make a recommendation to the Board for their consideration.

    a) Financial information – bank statement, payables and receivables and review of Executive Committee approvals.

5. DIRECTOR REPORTS

    a) President’s Corner – the President will report on activities and issues of interest.
    b) Directors’ reports – Directors who have attended meetings or been involved in recent    relevant resource management issues will have the opportunity to report to the Board.

6. MANAGER’s REPORT

    a) Solar facilities update – issues and activities related to the facilities proposed in the District.

        1)    Grass seed mixture concerns at PG&E sites

    b) Others, including but not limited to; air quality, land fallowing and conservation habitat, water conservation, water quality, salinity management, bio-fuels, conservation tillage, energy and carbon management.

        1) Updates on Opuntia, Thornless Mesquite
        2) Updates on activities at Red Rock Ranch – potential reverse osmosis by UCLA
       3) Update on ‘Westside Integrated Resources Plan’ by San Luis and Delta-Mendota Water Authority – planning grant opportunity discussion
        4) Other correspondence and activities

7. PARTNER REPORTS – the following organizations are invited to report on activities of interest to the District:

    a) USDA-NRCS, US-BLM, CA-DWR, Westlands Water District, others.

    b) ADJOURNMENT – next tentative meeting January 19th, 2012, at the Westlands Water District Five Points office.

NOTE: The agenda items may not be presented in the order they are listed. Persons wishing to discuss an item that was taken out of order will have the opportunity to do so. All agenda items listed are considered to be discussion and/or action items.

Individuals needing special assistance in order to participate in this meeting should contact the District Secretary for such assistance or accommodation prior to the meeting. The District Secretary can be telephoned at 559.230.9050.

Grant Administration Policy

The Westside RCD supports farmers, ranchers, and others in the District who seek grants to experiment with new crops, perfect water treatment technologies, or do any number of other conservation-related projects that can enhance the sustainability of agriculture in our service area. We request that individuals and organizations who want the Westside RCD to administer their grant do the following:
1) Submit an outline of the grant proposal that states the objective of the grant, the activities required to achieve the objective, the duration of the grant, and the amount of money being sought; and 2) State the source of funds and the rules for applying for the grant.

The grant seeker can write the grant proposal himself, hire a grant writer, or ask the Westside RCD to find a grant writer. The grant seeker will pay the grant writer, and the Westside RCD will not be liable in any way for the performance of the grant writer.

The Westside RCD will determine how it will be paid by the donor and will inform the grant seeker the percentage of the grant amount it will need to administer the grant. This is typically 15% of the grant amount but varies with the complexity of the project and the personnel-hours needed to administer the grant. If the grant seeker only wants the Westside RCD to pay vendors and other service providers, a minimal administrative charge can be negotiated. Grant contracts will stipulate that the donor will pay the Westside RCD before it disburses grant funds to grant writers, vendors and others.

The grant administration services of the Westside RCD will be available to any farmer, rancher, or landowner doing business in the District. Once a donor awards a grant to the grant seeker, the Westside RCD will announce the grant proposal on its web site. All requests for bids to do project work, grant activities, expenditures, and other grant transactions will be posted on the Westside RCD web site from that point on.

NOTE: The agenda items may not be presented in the order they are listed. Persons wishing to discuss an item that was taken out of order will have the opportunity to do so. All agenda items listed are considered to be discussion and/or action items.

Individuals needing special assistance in order to participate in this meeting should contact the District Secretary for such assistance or accommodation prior to the meeting. The District Secretary can be telephoned at 559.647.9198.